Verse 9.217 [Son’s Property inherited by the Mother]

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

अनपत्यस्य पुत्रस्य माता दायमवाप्नुयात् ।
मातर्यपि च वृत्तायां पितुर्माता हरेद् धनम् ॥ २१७ ॥

anapatyasya putrasya mātā dāyamavāpnuyāt |
mātaryapi ca vṛttāyāṃ piturmātā hared dhanam || 217 ||

The property of a childless son shall be inherited by his mother; and if the mother also is dead, his father’s mother shall receive that property.—(217)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The meaning of this verse has been already explained (under 185).—(217)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

“Kullūka, Nārāyaṇa and Nandana all three hold that the mother inherits only on failure of sons (grandsons and great-grandsons, adds Nandana), widows and daughters; but they disagree with respect to the sequence of the next following heirs: Kullūka holds that the mother and the father, whose right has been mentioned above, verse 85, follow next, inheriting conjointly, then brothers, afterwards brothers’ sons, and after them the paternal grandmother;—Nārāyaṇa gives the following order: 1. Mother, 2. Father, 3. Brothers, 4. Brothers’ sons, 5. Maternal grandmother.”—Buhler.

Hopkins is wrong in saying that verse 185 is not in Medhātithi’s text. As a matter of fact, Medhātithi’s gloss on that verse has shared the same fate as that on all the other important verses bearing upon inheritance.

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (2.135-136) as laying down the rights of the mother and grandmother to the son’s property. The Bālambhaṭṭī explains ‘vṛttāyām’, as ‘dying’.

It is quoted in Aparārka (p. 744);—in Vivadaratnākara (p. 591) which adds the following, notes:—‘Childlessness’ meant here is ‘absence of sons and: wife and others’;—the grandmother inherits only in the absence of brother or other Sapiṇḍas;—the father inherits in the absence of the mother;—‘dāyādyam’ means ‘property inheritable by heirs’.

It is quoted in Vyavahāramayūkha (p. 63) to the effect that in the absence of ‘brothers’ sons the first claim is that of the grandmother;—and in Smṛtitattva II (p. 195) to the effect that in the absence of ‘brothers’ sons’, the property goes to the grandfather, and in hie absence, to the grandmother; the rights of the grandfather being superior to those of the grandmother, just as those of the father are superior to those of the mother.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (17.7).—‘One’s property goes to one’s mother, on the failure of his wife, daughter and father.’

Yājñavalkya (2.135-136).—‘When a man has gone to heaven without leaving a son, his property shall go to the succeeding owner among the following, in the absence of the preceding ones—wife, daughters, mother, father, brothers, brother’s sons, Sagotras, Bandhus, pupils and fellow-students.’

Bṛhaspati (Aparārka, p. 741).—‘If a man dies without leaving a child or wife or brother or father or mother, his Sapiṇḍas shall take his property according to their respective shares.’

Do. (Vivādaratnākara, p. 591).—‘If a man dies without leaving a son or a wife, his property goes to his mother, or, with her consent, to his brother.’

Do. (Do., p. 598),—‘If a Kṣatriya, a Vaiśya or a Śūdra dies childless, and without wife or brothers, the King shall take his property.’

Śaṅkha (Do.).—‘If a man dies without a son, his property goes to his brother; in the absence of a brother, to his mother and father; and in the absence of these, to his senior (or junior) wife.’

Devala (Do.).—‘His uterine brothers shall divide the property of the man dying without a son; or his daughters of the same caste, or his father, if he he living, or stepbrothers of the same caste as himself or his mother or his wife,—in this same order.’

Paiṭhīnasi (Vivādaratnākara, p. 592).—‘If a man dies without a son, his property goes to his brother; in the absence of the brother, his mother and father take it; or his senior wife; or his Sagotras, pupils and fellow-students.’